Latest News from Nicky Wagner

The work of the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) to repair Christchurch’s earthquake-damaged infrastructure is the focus of the latest dashboard released by Minister supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration Nicky Wagner.

The Greater Christchurch Dashboard — Horizontal Infrastructure focuses on the construction activities of SCIRT over more than five and a half years.

“SCIRT construction officially wrapped at the end of June and its physical assets — including underground pipe networks, roads, bridges and pump stations — have been returned to Christchurch City Council,” Ms Wagner says.

“This was an absolutely enormous programme, worth about $2.2 billion (funded by Government and Council), and made up of more than 740 individual projects.

“So much of what SCIRT achieved now sits below ground and most people will never see it. There’s still more work to be done, we still have bumpy roads, detours and dug-up footpaths, but this dashboard highlights the sheer scale of the SCIRT programme.

“As a Christchurch resident, I was particularly impressed with the level of community engagement and communication. More than 1.7 million copies of work notices were delivered to residents and businesses, 225 e-newsletters were produced, and more than 41,000 face-to-face meetings were held.

“I’d like to pay tribute to everyone involved in the SCIRT programme, particularly those on the ground, working to fix our horizontal infrastructure and manage relationships with residents.

“It’s important to note that the Council will continue its work to maintain, repair and improve the city’s roads.”

SCIRT was an alliance made up of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (formerly CERA); the NZ Transport Agency; the Christchurch City Council; and five major contractors responsible for the repairs — City Care, Downer, Fletcher, Fulton Hogan and McConnell Dowell.

SCIRT Executive General Manager Ian Campbell says more than $1.5 billion has been spent on the wastewater network alone.

“Key challenges included keeping the network operational while being repaired and minimising the considerable impacts on the community, and we thank everyone for their patience,” Mr Campbell says.

“We now have an infrastructure network that is stronger and better able to cope as a result of the modern materials, new technology and the latest construction.”

“I’ve made a commitment to keeping the community as up to date as possible by regularly and proactively releasing information,” Ms Wagner says.

“This report is part of that commitment and provides a clear and comprehensive overview of our regeneration to date.

“Monitoring our progress in this way ensures all critical issues are noted and addressed by the relevant agencies in a timely manner.

“It also lets us know if we’re heading in the right direction and helps us plan ahead or make any necessary changes.

“As a city and a region we’ve faced many challenges over the last six and half years, but much of the data shows we’re making progress and, slowly but surely, getting back to where we want to be.”

The data is collated from a range of sources, including organisations working on the regeneration; Statistics NZ; the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment; and the Ministry of Health/Canterbury District Health Board.

A cross-party letter included in the Government offer of reinstatement for ChristChurch Cathedral shows significant support for a prompt decision, Minister supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration Nicky Wagner says.

The letter — signed by the leaders of National, United Future, the Maori Party, ACT, Labour and the Greens — is an in principle agreement to support legislation streamlining the consenting and approval process for reinstatement.

“The Government offer, presented to Bishop Victoria Matthews on Sunday, has been well received and a number of organisations have come out in support,” Ms Wagner says.

“I’d like to thank my parliamentary colleagues for taking the time to attend cross-party meetings and for their public support with the legislative process.

“I believe this letter carries a lot of weight and strengthens the Government offer.

“As well as being a place of worship, ChristChurch Cathedral is a significant category one heritage building, a community facility and a tourist attraction. We need an agreed solution on its future and we need it sooner rather than later.”

A new video promoting the Healthy Ageing Strategy is all about maximising the health and wellbeing of older New Zealanders, Associate Health Minister Nicky Wagner says.

Ms Wagner released the video today to mark the start of the Strategy’s implementation process.

“I’m really pleased with national and international feedback on the Strategy since it launched in December. Implementation is now underway, and we’re already seeing progress,” Ms Wagner says.

The video captures a variety of people involved in implementing the Strategy, including medical professionals and the leader of a Māori trust.

“The Strategy brings policies, agencies, services and funding together in a new way to ensure older people have the opportunity to live a good life,” Ms Wagner says.

District Health Boards are implementing strength and balance programmes to prevent injuries from falls, and mobility programmes to improve functionality and resilience of people with musculoskeletal conditions.

A Palliative Care Action Plan has also been released to improve adult palliative care services and help ensure a respectful end of life.

“Healthy ageing is not just about health services though — it’s also about being connected. It’s about everybody in the wider community working together to create age-friendly environments and support older people,” Ms Wagner says.

“Older people and local government authorities are developing or implementing action plans for age-friendly communities. We want our older people to be respected and to maintain the best possible quality of life, for as long as possible.

The Government has approved $600,000 to extend the service until the end of December 2017.

“The Residential Advisory Service was set up in 2013 to help greater Christchurch residents navigate their earthquake insurance claims. It has since evolved from a free legal advice service to one that helps broker solutions with insurance companies,” Ms Wagner says.

“While the service has done an exceptional job of closing over 4300 difficult claims, there are still some residents stuck in insurance limbo.

“The extension of the service will mean those people will continue to be supported. Exit surveys show 76 per cent of RAS clients feel better informed about their situation, 72 per cent are more confident about their next steps, and 82 per cent would recommend the service to others,” Ms Wagner says.

RAS moves to being fully-funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) this week.

Minister supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration Nicky Wagner is today reiterating her commitment to finding an agreed solution for the ChristChurch Cathedral by releasing an offer of reinstatement.

“The Cathedral sits at the very heart of Christchurch — it’s the city’s namesake, an icon, a place of worship, a community facility, a tourist attraction and a beloved heritage building,” Ms Wagner says.

“This offer builds on the Cathedral Working Group Recommendation Report, released last month, which recommended reinstatement at an estimated cost of $104 million.

“This not about favouring reinstatement over restoration or a contemporary new-build. It’s about finding a way forward that doesn’t leave everyone tied up in court for five to 10 years.

“I’ve presented the offer to Bishop Victoria Matthews and she’s agreed to take it to the Synod in September.”

The offer includes:

Crown cash contribution of $10 million;
Crown-funded interest free suspensory loan of $15 million. Repayment of the loan will be suspended and forgiven if the loan conditions are fulfilled;
Christchurch City Council grant of $10 million — subject to public consultation;
Great Christchurch Buildings Trust pledge of $13.7 million;
An independent Fundraising Trust;
Legislation to streamline project consenting and approval processes; and
A Joint Venture between the Church Property Trust and the Fundraising Trust to govern and manage the project.

“All up, with contributions from the Government, the Council, and the Great Christchurch Buildings Trust, as well as the church’s insurance proceeds of $42 million, we have about $90 million — enough to complete the Cathedral and Ancillary Buildings,” Ms Wagner says.

“This offer gives the Bishop and the Synod a clear and detailed option for consideration, and provides some security and certainty, particularly around funding.

“The Government contribution is a significant amount of money, but we need to balance the property rights of the church with the historical value of the building and the need to break this deadlock.

“About half of Christchurch wants to see the Cathedral reinstated, the other half wants a modernised version or a contemporary new-build, but really, everyone just needs a decision. It’s time to move forward, and I think this is our best option.”

The Government is investing $528,000 in 12 new projects for the upkeep of the Great Rides of New Zealand Cycle Trail, Associate Tourism Minister Nicky Wagner announced today.

The investment comes from the sixth round of the Maintaining the Quality of Great Rides Fund, which aims to ensure New Zealand’s premier rides are maintained to their current world-class standard.

“Nga Haerenga, the New Zealand Cycle Trail, is a key part of our tourism offering, attracting high-value visitors while boosting employment and development opportunities for regional economies,” Ms Wagner says.

“The Government, through the tourism strategy, is focused on attracting visitors who bring value to our communities. We need visitors who spend more, stay longer and explore regions around New Zealand, as well as the main tourist spots.

“With over a million people using the Great Rides annually — Kiwis and international visitors alike — it’s important they’re well-maintained and continue to offer a safe and enjoyable experience.”

The 12 projects to receive funding from the Maintaining the Quality of Great Rides Fund are:

In February 2014, the Government announced $8 million over four years for the Maintaining the Quality of Great Rides Fund. A total of $4.8 million has been approved for 59 projects across 20 Great Rides.

An evaluation released last year estimated the Great Rides produced $37.4 million in economic benefits in 2015, through revenue from visitor spending.

Minister supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration Nicky Wagner and Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel say lessons from the Canterbury earthquakes will play a vital role in future emergency management planning, and should be further shared and recorded.

“Disasters on the scale of the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes are rare so there have been many lessons for the Government, the Council, businesses, community groups and individuals,” Ms Wagner says.

“With that in mind, the Mayor and I have discussed rescheduling The Canterbury Earthquake Learn, Prepare, Act Symposium, originally planned for February 2017.

“We agree there should be a forum to discuss what we’ve learned and how it can inform all areas and levels of government, particularly emergency planning.”

Ms Wagner says a reflective symposium in February would have been poorly timed.

“The Government was, quite rightly, focussed on supporting Kaikoura and surrounding areas following the November quake. We were also concerned it was too soon to effectively reflect on the entire recovery, rebuild and regeneration process.

“A lot of work has already been done to share and record a variety of quake experiences, achievements and challenges. That information is collated on the EQ Recovery Learning website, managed by the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management.”

Mayor Dalziel says while no decisions have been made, 2018 would be an appropriate time to hold an event.

“This event, in whatever form it may take, would build on current initiatives to better understand and learn from our experiences, as well as safeguard the city’s preparedness and recovery processes in the event of another disaster.

“It is my intention to host a series of localised workshops on specific issues to feed in to the symposium. This will enable us to see where there are gaps in our knowledge and whether additional research needs to be commissioned.

“We need to be open to learning from what we got right and also from what we got wrong, but in an environment which enables us to look back, not to blame but to understand.”

A Whole of Government report, which focuses on lessons from the overall government response to the Canterbury earthquakes, is due to be released before the end of July.

The completion of construction for the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) programme is a major rebuild milestone, the Government and Christchurch City Council say.

Transport Minister Simon Bridges says the five-and-a-half-year project to repair Christchurch’s earthquake-damaged horizontal infrastructure was of one of the largest and most complex engineering programmes ever carried out in New Zealand.

“More than 1.38 million square metres of roading has been repaired and replaced. That’s almost twice the size of South Hagley Park — the scale of this programme is phenomenal,” Mr Bridges says.

“Christchurch now has a reliable functioning network of roads, and the Government — through the NZ Transport Agency — will continue to support the city with ongoing repair, maintenance and improvements to the network, as well as transport system development.”

Minister supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration Nicky Wagner says the completion of construction is a significant milestone in the regeneration process.

“The scale of the work required after the quakes of 2010 and 2011 was daunting. I’m delighted SCIRT is handing fully functioning networks back to the Council,” Ms Wagner says.

“Almost 80 per cent of the work involved the underground networks — fresh water, wastewater and stormwater — as well as pump stations. No doubt this work, at some point or another, frustrated almost every Christchurch resident, but the reward for our patience is quality infrastructure designed to endure.”

Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel says the SCIRT model is a great example of local and central government collaboration.

“The SCIRT Alliance, funded by the Council and the Crown, gave the city the capacity to restore the three-waters and roading networks in a way that would not otherwise have been possible,” Ms Dalziel says

"With the handover of the networks, Christchurch City will have a greater knowledge of its underground assets than any other city in the country, which will enable an asset management system second to none. This is one of the real legacies of the earthquakes.

“There is still work to be done, especially with footpaths and roads. The organisation has set up the new 3 Waters Capital Programme Directorate to manage the city’s water, stormwater and wastewater systems into the future.”

“This is a city full of opportunity. Regenerate is working to maximise those opportunities to create an attractive, sustainable and people-friendly urban environment.”

Regenerate Christchurch plans to complete a regeneration strategy for the central city this year as well as a draft Regeneration Plan for the Ōtākaro Avon River corridor. A regeneration strategy for Southshore is underway, while regeneration planning for other red zone areas will start in 2018-2019.

“As it enters its second year, I expect Regenerate to maintain momentum and further increase community confidence through active engagement with its partners and the public,” Ms Wagner says.